We use those energy sources because global power demand is insatiable and is only going to get much worse as countries like China and India become increasingly first world. Nuclear power can be scary but has caused FAR fewer deaths than, for instance, coal. By a factor of 4000x ( http://transitionvoice.com/2011/03/nukes-are-scary-but-dont-forget-coal/ ) I’m not a nuclear power apologist but keep in mind that it’s easy to freak out about 1 major incident every 20 years over caring than a bunch of blue collar people dying in coal mines (especially if they’re brown skinned.) That doesn’t ever make the news.

Personally I think every sun facing surface should have solar panels on it. Roofs, cars, skyscrapers, hats even. It might not solve the world’s power problems, but if it cuts the “on-grid” power consumption by 50% we’d be in much better shape than we are now.

I agree with you and coal is some scary crap (incidentally – China and India are still using coal; yay emphysema!).

I also agree that solar, wind and geothermal are way better options than nuclear to offset where we’re at. The big news is Chernobyl, 3 Mile Island and Fukushima – but those are just the headlines. I’m saying that any energy source that creates toxic radioactive waste (that remains toxic for thousands of years) ISN’T viable and should never have been a consideration in the first place.